Which would be a generally good idea if 99% of the country didn’t require a car to do anything.
While i see the issue, there are also definitely habbits that can be changed. I lived in California for a few months and while i mostly cycled, other people in the house drove their car to the store to get breakfast, every single morning
Now i am not pushing cycling on everyone but maybe make breakfast at home or combine the trip? Small changes? I am also not directly accusing you of anything, my european mind was just baffled by such habbits
Doing so would expose the lie at the heart of the neoliberal proposition — that if we gave up our dignity as workers, we would regain it ten times over as consumers.
If you have to do gig work on top of your two conventional jobs, but you still have to be frugal? Well, then it starts to seem like maybe workers sold their rights away for nothing.
The 99% doesn’t want to believe that. But more than that, the 1% really doesn’t want the 99% to believe that.
You’re not wrong. But you’re also not going to see Americans change their thinking on that anytime soon.
Living in southern California messes with my head! Perfect weather for cycling and just being outside yet almost everyone just chooses to drive, even on trips 1/2 a mile away.
Though maybe my head has been warped from visiting Europe multiple times but the American car brain cannot comprehend walking somewhere close. It takes more time looking for parking than actually just walking there, it drives me wild!
Anyway I have stopped riding my bike a lot because the routes I take have no bike infrastructure and the drivers here have tried to kill me a few to many times. I usually just resort to Public transportation which disappoints me almost on a daily bases, mostly because I’ve been to Europe and seen what functional systems look like.
Growing up the nearest grocery store was 8 miles away down a highway with no bike lane and no sidewalks if you wanted to walk it. Cyclists get run over fairly often in the area. It’s 98 degrees most of the summer. Better pedal fast if you want anything frozen to make it back home. Also there was no public transit option.
Nearest restaurants were a bit further, but you could make it to a gas station in 3 miles.
I live mostly in Germany now and it seems the vast majority of people can access a grocery store, a bakery, and a restaurant/café in a 20 minute walk at most. The few that cannot are at most 20 minutes away from a bus or train stop that will get them to a store.
American infrastructure is nonexistent. We only build it for cars
It’s ironic that the country built on freedom forces you to own and drive a car if you want to participate in society. I remember getting my driver’s license at 16 and feeling the freedom to finally go anywhere. That rose colored view faded away quickly when I was forced to sit in traffic 5/6 days a week going to school then work and it just never ends. I have no alternative, that’s it until we die just sit in traffic with everyone. It’s fucking dehumanizing, at least to me it is.
Right, and then you realize “I should have always had that freedom to go anywhere, but there was nothing in walking distance of my childhood home except for other people’s homes and my school.” And I was lucky to have school in walking distance.
I think it’s so much worse these days. I read and heard a few nightmare stories of parents getting in trouble for allowing their 10yr old kids outside WITHOUT SUPERVISION. Like that blows my mind, but I might be in the minority to think young kids should be able to survive outside unsupervised?
Yeah it’s bad. I walked to school much younger than that unsupervised, and so did most of my classmates back then…
or a generator
Again a reference to communism, when the price increase is a direct result of unregulated capitalism.
RussiaUS doesn’t pay out for dead soldiers.RussiaUS rations gas.RussiaUS is down to the dregs of their munitions.RussiaUS tells lies about victory in war.RussiaUS targets civillian infrastructure.On and on. Trump is just another shitty dictator.
Next on the list will be beating the shit out of people at the polls and jailing them for voting opposition, and I’m sure there’s more I’m missing.
US hasn’t paid out for live soldiers with combat or service related injuries for decades - not a new problem. The VA is joke as are any benefits actually being paid out. I am not sure how gas prices aren’t higher in the US given the supply issues - as soon as there are spot shortages (no gas available in some locations) prices will go up 25-50% and stay there. I have an aunt that is full MAGA. She lives in that information bubble that confirms everything Trump and MAGA is great and liberals/Dems are the real problem. Fox News and social media feds tell her she’s right - even when family members tell her to her face she is wrong possibly crazy. She doesn’t listen. And she is not alone. The American government has lied for decades - but the level Trump has taken it to is disturbing. But it also might be the new normal - at least on the right wing side of politics. Enough people plan to vote in November against Trump’s plans - of course MAGA plans to do everything they can to disrupt voting and election certifications. It is going to be ugly. Many states won’t let you vote in person if you request a mail in ballot - they’ll need to revise those rules quickly because if the Post Office stops delivering ballots (likely) in person voting is going to be your only way to vote. And you know that is going to be a shit show at any polling place expected to vote Blue.
Yep, and Americans even on Lemmy will absolutely freak out if you call the United States a shithole dictatorship. They still think that our only way out of this is voting as if everything is normal. They still go on celebrating their holidays, flying their little American flags and being proud to be American. It’s a fucking joke!
I’m an American and I don’t know what Lemmy you’re making up. Nobody I have encountered here disagrees with anything I said. In fact, the only disagreement I get is from tankies who dislike Russia being called out as a shitty dictatorship and then butwhatabout the US.
hashtag not all americans
I fucking hate it here 🥰🥰🥰
Bro I’m working on my escape. I’m so close!!! Hopefully one more year!
🥳🥳🥳
it’s more of a shitheel dictatorship. we filled up our hole with shit. pedant properly please
Are these MAGA Lemmy users in the room with us right now?
All the sheep spouted,
“Only country in the world”,
And they believed it
this has not been my experience with lemmy at all. my experience with this site is people spouting shockingly stupid rhetorical questions that are answered by the post, and handwaving fascism as long as it’s not specifically american. that c/worldnews post about AfD has a handful wild comments in it.
Where? The people flying flags not calling it a dictatorship are not on lemmy.
All that whining when gas still costs nothing in US.
Yes, but Americans are spoiled and think gas should actually be $1/gallon. If it wasn’t for the damn evil regulations and climate crap we would have cheap gas! Other countries just aren’t doing capitalism as good as we are that’s why we deserve the cheapest gas! I’m not defending it, I’m just pointing out my perspective when people complain to me about gas prices. I don’t drive daily only on long trips so I’m disconnected from the prices usually.
Also the fact that the US is huge, spread out, and one of the most car centric countries on the planet. We don’t have public transit or alternatives in most parts of the country, so combined with everything else, it makes it hurt a lot more when prices increase. I’m lucky to live in an area that actually has public transit, and also lucky enough to have an EV. Doesn’t make the cost of goods any cheaper, of course.
I’ve got a wild idea for the Americans who keep voting republicans into power: let’s fund public transit and get rid of cars, then gas prices don’t matter anywhere near as much. You want lower gas prices to make food cheaper? That’s the way to do it through reducing demand.
Tbh gas WAS around $1/gallon before Bush started his wars in the Middle East. We’re still a net exporter, there’s no reason gas should be so expensive beyond corporate greed.
I’m no expert but the “net exporter” thing is a myth. We rely on imports of heavy crude oil because we just don’t have enough domestically. We are a “net exporter” because we are able to mix the heavy crude with light crude then refine them. From the refining process we are able to export a lot of product outside of the USA. That refined product quantity number as well as the natural gas quantity total is more than the imported heavy crude oil.
My point is non of this exporting is possible without heavy crude oil. Our domestic oil we get out of the ground can’t even be refined in our efficient refineries without heavy crude. This is my layman understanding of the oil production industry. Please someone correct me if I’m wrong
Wait, isn’t he supposed to be on the team that’s trying to stop climate change?
Or does he think it’s safe to let his backroom deal persona out into the public now?
gas rationing, even when you’re trying to reduce gas usage, drives up prices for everything
if you were alive in the 70s, those words strike fear
Yeah Newsom is an interesting character. Sometimes I don’t know what he really stands for. He’s been playing the “hate on Trump regarding everything” game for a while though so this is a continuation of that?
Sounds like an opportunist. Someone who just says what he needs to get his way, but has no guiding principles.
I can see how a message like this would sound coming from someone like Bernie Sanders, ie. high prices are squeezing regular people while oil companies bag the profit. Even if it’s good for people to drive less from a climate perspective, it has to be done in a way that doesn’t harm real people. But this guy just sounds like he’s angling for political points with no concern for real issues. Would make a terrible president, so I guess he has high chances to become the Democratic nominee.
Yup! The Democrats will definitely choose him as he is already controversial on the left! They truly are just controlled opposition for the Republican party at this point 😂
I don’t know what he really stands for.
as a long-time california politicks observer:
Sometimes I don’t know what he really stands for.
He’s like the head of the wing of the Democrats who see MAGA’s cult of personality around Trump and think “man, I wish we had that.”
I hope most American Democrats are smarter than that. But then I have an argument at c/workreform because they defend Thomas Massie for his current stance against Trump WHILE SPENDING 10+ YEARS voting against their interest. So maybe we are as dumb as magats?
He’s not interesting in the slightest. He stands for everything trump stands for except he wants to be in charge
I don’t think he stands for the rabid imprisonment of humans, kidnapping them off the street and separating families. If he is I must have missed something! Maybe you’re right though, Democrats do like to use the illegal phrase more and more these days.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2026-01-29/newsom-ice-democrats-2028
Took about 15 seconds
Liberals won’t stop climate change, but some may want to look like they’re trying.
Gas prices? Skill issue, just don’t buy it. I haven’t bought any in years.
If you buy food, you buy diesel. It’s what’s in the tractors and delivery trucks.
This is why it’s literally impossible for an American to live a two tonne CO2 lifestyle. Emissions are imbedded in the supply chains and government.
How much of that food emissions is from beef though? Like even if you insist on still eating meat if you were to change to pork/chicken it would reduce emissions a lot.
Although might be right for Americans, they have 3x what we do here per capita. Should be easier for me if I just need to do around half of what the average person does to get under 2. So heat pump, eat minimal meat with plenty of grains and veg instead, cycle to work, probably already most of the way there.
Little is from beef. Beef, while the worst for emissions per calorie, is a tiny part of the overall food chain. Grains dominate.
You will get closer, but I suspect your nation is simply too wealthy to hit the target. The UK is 2.25x higher than two tonnes per capita.
It might be achievable if you cycle, never step foot on an aircraft, eat a local vegetarian diet, live in a small space heated with a heat pump, and buy solely used durable products. Again, there’s too much carbon in the supply chain and government services like road maintenance
Of course, you are miles ahead of the US.
Beef is like 40x the emissions of grain per kcal. Grains are also a lot of the overall value because they are uses as animal feed. Drop the need for animal feed and you significantly drop the need for grains.
live in a small space heated with a heat pump
Their thin walls cause this to only be a tiny improvement I’d wager (still the best option though). They can even punch holes in their walls, if I tried this with a german drywall I’d break all the bones in my hand.
but I suspect your nation is simply too wealthy to hit the target
This implies environmental protection contradicts wealth (as in “lots of money in one n̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ regional administrative zone”), a common conservative lie. It doesn’t, unfettered capitalism does. E.g. the solar business makes fucking bank but is a net positive on the environment. So are lots of other businesses. The definition of wealth is fucked anyway.
Thin walls? I have 2 layers of block walls with cavity insulation.
if you insist
so while you’re on your high horse: we know a few people who have made dietary decisions. i know a shitton of people with severe dietary restrictions that have made those decisions for them. they look identical from the outside. if you look at someone else’s plate, you should have two things to check for: whether they have enough to eat, and whether something on there looks good enough you want to try some/ask how to make it.
that’s my high horse
Honestly gas rationing is a good thing, fuck oil, fuck burning into climate change. Gavin is not on the left but kinda conservative since he wants to drive gas prices down.
It’s clearly all Biden’s fault
Well it’s a good thing that every kid in the US is back in school, riding diesel buses to get there.
And it’s harvest season.
No problem, drive less.
i went to a shell station the other day and they were completely out of all but the lowest tier gasoline
Interesting. I heard diesel will be the first sign of shortages. I haven’t seen it in my neck of the woods, but peeps on reddit reported it in the Midwest
iowa here. diesel is 6 bucks now at the Loves ( cheapest price in my area)
Trump is single white female-ing Putin, I see.
